Ojos Negros (album)
Encyclopedia
Ojos Negros is the sixth studio album by Spanish
duo Azúcar Moreno
, released on Sony-Epic
in 1992. The album's title translates as Dark Eyes and is a reference to one of the tracks included, the Chile
an folk tune "Yo Vendo Unos Ojos Negros".
Ojos Negros, just like preceding album Mambo, was recorded in both London
, Madrid
and Miami and was a collaboration with acclaimed British producer Nick Patrick. Patrick started his career as a recording engineer for Heaven 17
and B.E.F. in the early 80s and has since gained prominence as a producer and arranger in his own right for a large number of artists in genres as diverse as pop
and rock
(Roy Orbison
, Alain Souchon
, Maggie Reilly
), world music
(Salif Keita
, Gypsy Kings, Mory Kante
, Youssou N'Dour
) and classical
(Russell Watson
, Dominic Miller
, Katherine Jenkins
). Patrick's production of Ojos Negros marked a change in musical direction for Azúcar Moreno as it mainly featured live orchestrations including percussion
, brass
, woodwind and sophisticated string
arrangements and that it combined both disco, club and flamenco influenced material with midtempo tracks and romantic ballads like "Vente Conmigo" and "En Tu Calle Sin Salida", and the Salazár sisters adapting their vocal style accordingly, even harmonising
on certain titles.
Despite - or because of - this Ojos Negros proved to be a modest commercial success compared to the preceding Bandido
and Mambo
, both in Spain and Latin America. The album spawned five single releases in 1992 and early 1993, all minor hits; a cover of the Venezuela
n standard "Moliendo Café
", first made famous by Mario Suárez
, "Hazme El Amor", co-written by Spanish singer and composer Miguel Gallardo who would go on to write several of the duo's hits later in the 90s and 2000s, "Veneno", a remixed version of "Azúcarero" and finally "Mirame", a duet with Mexican
singer Luis Miguel. "Hazme El Amor" was in 1997 the only track from Ojos Negros to be included on Azúcar Moreno's first greatest hits album Mucho Azúcar - Grandes Éxitos
.
Just like Mambo the album was released with alternative cover art in Japan.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
duo Azúcar Moreno
Azúcar Moreno
Azúcar Moreno was a famous Spanish music duo who have sold more than 3 million albums and singles since 1985 domestically, and became famous in Europe, the United States and Latin America in the 1990s, with approximately 10 million albums sold worldwide.-Biography:Composed by sisters Antonia and...
, released on Sony-Epic
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...
in 1992. The album's title translates as Dark Eyes and is a reference to one of the tracks included, the Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an folk tune "Yo Vendo Unos Ojos Negros".
Ojos Negros, just like preceding album Mambo, was recorded in both London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and Miami and was a collaboration with acclaimed British producer Nick Patrick. Patrick started his career as a recording engineer for Heaven 17
Heaven 17
Heaven 17 are an English synthpop band originating from Sheffield in the early 1980s. The trio comprises Martyn Ware , Ian Craig Marsh and Glenn Gregory...
and B.E.F. in the early 80s and has since gained prominence as a producer and arranger in his own right for a large number of artists in genres as diverse as pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
(Roy Orbison
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison was an American singer-songwriter, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. Orbison grew up in Texas and began singing in a rockabilly/country & western band in high school until he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis...
, Alain Souchon
Alain Souchon
Alain Souchon is a French singer, songwriter and actor. He has released 15 albums and has played roles in seven films.-Profile:...
, Maggie Reilly
Maggie Reilly
Maggie Reilly is a Scottish singer best known for her collaborations with the composer and instrumentalist Mike Oldfield...
), world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
(Salif Keita
Salif Keita
Salif Keïta is an internationally recognized afro-pop singer-songwriter from Mali. He is unique not only because of his reputation as the Golden Voice of Africa, but because he has albinism and is a direct descendant of the founder of the Mali Empire, Sundiata Keita...
, Gypsy Kings, Mory Kante
Mory Kanté
Mory Kanté is a vocalist and player of the kora harp. He was born into one of Guinea's best known families of griot musicians...
, Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour
Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, percussionist and occasional actor. In 2004, Rolling Stone described him as, in Senegal and much of Africa, "perhaps the most famous singer alive." He helped develop a style of popular music in Senegal, known in the Serer language as mbalax, a type of music...
) and classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
(Russell Watson
Russell Watson
Russell Watson is an English tenor who has released singles and albums of both operatic-style and pop songs. The self-styled "People's Tenor" had been singing since he was a child, and became known after performing at a working men's club...
, Dominic Miller
Dominic Miller
Dominic Miller is an Argentine-English guitarist who toured and recorded with World Party and King Swamp, worked on Phil Collins' solo album ...But Seriously and played guitar on every Sting album and tour since 1990...
, Katherine Jenkins
Katherine Jenkins
Katherine Jenkins is a Welsh mezzo-soprano. She is a classical-popular crossover singer who performs across a spectrum of operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre and hymns.-Early life and education:...
). Patrick's production of Ojos Negros marked a change in musical direction for Azúcar Moreno as it mainly featured live orchestrations including percussion
Percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
, brass
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
, woodwind and sophisticated string
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...
arrangements and that it combined both disco, club and flamenco influenced material with midtempo tracks and romantic ballads like "Vente Conmigo" and "En Tu Calle Sin Salida", and the Salazár sisters adapting their vocal style accordingly, even harmonising
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
on certain titles.
Despite - or because of - this Ojos Negros proved to be a modest commercial success compared to the preceding Bandido
Bandido (album)
Bandido is the fourth studio album by Spanish duo Azúcar Moreno, released on CBS-Epic in 1990. The album became the Salazár sisters' international breakthrough....
and Mambo
Mambo (album)
Mambo is the fifth studio album by Spanish duo Azúcar Moreno, released on CBS-Epic in 1991.The duo's two previous studio albums Carne De Melocotón and Bandido had resulted in the release of two remix albums, Mix In Spain and The Sugar Mix Album...
, both in Spain and Latin America. The album spawned five single releases in 1992 and early 1993, all minor hits; a cover of the Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n standard "Moliendo Café
Moliendo Café
"Moliendo Café" is a song by Venezuelan composer Hugo Blanco. It was composed in 1958, when Blanco was 18 years old. Blanco's version hit #1 in Argentina and Japan in 1961.The story goes that Blanco's uncle, Jose Manzo Perroni, helped him compose it...
", first made famous by Mario Suárez
Mario Suárez (singer)
Mario Suárez is a Venezuelan folk singer.From very young, at the age of nine, was presented to Carlos Gardel by his father, who was his driver during his visit to Venezuela, this meeting influence Mario Suárez in what will be his career as singer.In 1936, Mario Suárez moved to Caracas, beginning...
, "Hazme El Amor", co-written by Spanish singer and composer Miguel Gallardo who would go on to write several of the duo's hits later in the 90s and 2000s, "Veneno", a remixed version of "Azúcarero" and finally "Mirame", a duet with Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
singer Luis Miguel. "Hazme El Amor" was in 1997 the only track from Ojos Negros to be included on Azúcar Moreno's first greatest hits album Mucho Azúcar - Grandes Éxitos
Mucho Azúcar - Grandes Éxitos
Mucho Azúcar – Grandes Éxitos is a greatest hits album by Spanish duo Azúcar Moreno, released on Sony International in 1997.Following the success of 1996 album Esclava De Tu Piel and its string of hit singles Azúcar Moreno released their first career retrospective, Mucho Azúcar - Grandes Éxitos,...
.
Just like Mambo the album was released with alternative cover art in Japan.
Track listing
- "Moliendo CaféMoliendo Café"Moliendo Café" is a song by Venezuelan composer Hugo Blanco. It was composed in 1958, when Blanco was 18 years old. Blanco's version hit #1 in Argentina and Japan in 1961.The story goes that Blanco's uncle, Jose Manzo Perroni, helped him compose it...
" (Manzo) - 3:48 - "Hechizo de Luna" (Mene, Parker, Williams) - 4:26
- "En Tu Calle Sin Salida" (León, Solano) - 3:26
- "Hazme el Amor" (Gallardo, Mole) - 4:22
- "Vente Conmigo" (Ledo, Medina, Rubio) - 3:59
- "Amor Latino" (Escolar, Seijas) - 3:57
- "Azucarero" (Amigo) - 4:33
- "Yo Vendo Unos Ojos Negros" (Chilean traditional, arranged by Nick Patrick) - 3:26
- "Mírame" (with Luis EnriqueLuis Enrique (singer)Luis Enrique Mejía López, is a Nicaraguan singer and composer. He started his career in the late 1980s and achieved success in the 1990s earning the title "El Principe de la Salsa . He was one of the leading pioneers that led to the salsa romantica movement in the 1980s...
) (Carmona) - 4:03 - "Veneno" (De La Nuez, Rilo) - 4:22
Personnel
- Azúcar MorenoAzúcar MorenoAzúcar Moreno was a famous Spanish music duo who have sold more than 3 million albums and singles since 1985 domestically, and became famous in Europe, the United States and Latin America in the 1990s, with approximately 10 million albums sold worldwide.-Biography:Composed by sisters Antonia and...
- vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Willy Pérez Feria - background vocalsBacking vocalistA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
- Jackson King - background vocals
- Cheo Quiñones - background vocals
- Luis EnriqueLuis Enrique (singer)Luis Enrique Mejía López, is a Nicaraguan singer and composer. He started his career in the late 1980s and achieved success in the 1990s earning the title "El Principe de la Salsa . He was one of the leading pioneers that led to the salsa romantica movement in the 1980s...
- vocals & percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
("Mirame") - Luis JardimLuís JardimLuís Alberto Figueira Gonçalves Jardim is a Portuguese percussionist, born in the Madeira Island, best known for his work with producer Trevor Horn.-Family:Jardim is a cousin of Alberto João Jardim...
- bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, percussion, drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Edwin Bonilla - percussion
- Dolores Bermudez - handclapping
- Gerardo Nuñez - guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Vicente Amigo - guitar
- Tim Cansfield - electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
- Mitch Dalton - acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
- Paquito Echevarria - pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
- Michael Parker - keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
- Randy Barlow - trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
- Tony Concepcion - trumpet
- Teddy Mulet - trumpet
- Dana Teboe - tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Ron Asprey - saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
- Ed Calle - saxophone
Production
- Nick Patrick - record producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, musical arranger, musical director, mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Ingo Vauk - sound engineer
- Randy Barlow - arranger
- Camilo Valencia - arranger
- Jesus Bola - arranger
- Nick Ingman - arranger
- Chris Bandy - mixing assistant
- Recorded at Maison Rouge Studios (London), Sincronia (Madrid) and New River Studios (Miami)
- Mixed at The Town House Studios (London)
- Carlos Martin - graphic designGraphic designGraphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
- Miguel Oriola - photographyPhotographyPhotography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
Sources and external links
- [ Allmusic discography]
- Discogs.com discography
- Rateyourmusic.com discography
- Nick Patrick profile, EMI Music Publishing